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Night
'' |image= |series= |production=40840-195 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Brannon Braga andJoe Menosky |director=David Livingston |imdbref=tt0708936 |guests=Ken Magee as Controller Emck, Martin Rayner as Dr. Chaotica and Steven Dennis and Steven Rankin as Night Aliens |previous_production=Hope and Fear |next_production=Drone |episode=VGR S05E01 |airdate=14 October 1998 |previous_release=(VGR) Hope and Fear (Overall) Shadows and Symbols |next_release=(VGR) Drone (Overall) Afterimage |story_date(s)=52081.2 (2375) |previous_story= Afterimage Tears of the Prophets |next_story= Take Me Out to the Holosuite Drone }} Summary Voyager has entered a desolate region of space with no star systems in sight for two years, and the crew is slowly going crazy. The only activity in this vast expanse is some high levels of theta radiation. With nothing to distract her mind from its deepest thoughts, Janeway has retreated to her quarters and is agonizing over her past decisions that brought the crew to the Delta Quadrant. Suddenly, the ship loses power and is left in total darkness. Once Kim and Tuvok get back partial power, they determine that a dampening field caused the power drain. Meanwhile, Paris is attacked by an alien in the holodeck, and Chakotay encounters one in the corridor. When emergency power is activated, three alien ships can be seen surrounding Voyager. They don't answer hails and begin firing until a larger ship forces them to retreat. The pilot of the friendly ship, Emck, informs Janeway that thousands of the alien ships are ahead, but he can lead Voyager through a spatial vortex that will take them to the other side of the expanse unharmed. In return, he wants the alien they have in sickbay. Janeway questions the wounded "night being," who is dying of theta radiation poisoning. He explains that his people were living a peaceful existence in the void when the Malon began poisoning them. A course is set to take him home, and soon Voyager is surrounded by his vessels. As he is beamed back, the night alien pleads with Janeway to help them close the vortex and protect their space. The crew observes the Malon ships are using the void as a dumping ground for their antimatter waste. Janeway offers Emck the technology to purify their reactant, but he refuses to cooperate because such innovations would put him out of business. A decision is reached to close the vortex, but it has to be done from inside the void. Janeway announces that the crew will proceed through the vortex while she stays behind in a shuttle and closes it, but her senior staff refuses to carry out orders to sacrifice her. Instead, they will close the vortex just after entering it. It will cause a major shockwave, but they are confident Voyager can make it to the other side. As Malon ships begin firing, both of Voyager's engines are taken off-line. They continue toward the vortex to find a Malon freighter attempting to block their path, but night alien ships attack and distract it. Voyager scores a direct hit against the freighter then enters the vortex, deploying torpedoes to seal the entrance. The shockwave carries them to the other side, and the vortex is destroyed. Finally, Voyager emerges from the darkness into a star field full of light and life. Errors and Explanations Nit Central # Corey Hines on Wednesday, October 14, 1998 - 8:59 pm: How come on the galactic maps we see in the series that we've never seen this void? Camouflage, perhaps? # Chris Booton on Wednesday, October 14, 1998 - 9:29 pm: After they get out of the vortex and can see stars they engage their engines. I thought the alien ship took out their engines? B’Elanna and the engineers must have got them working again. # In the battle scene they fire torpedo after torpedo, but I thought that they had only a very small amount left? They probably found a way to replicate new cases with reduced warheads. # Sara Greenblatt on Wednesday, October 14, 1998 - 11:07 pm: Okay, what's with Tom and B'Elanna? They're back to arguing on the level they were at in Displaced and Day of Honor. Surely they've gone past that. But I like the idea about scheduling/rotating arguments! The stress of the situation is probably getting to them, and neither of them are as able to handle it well as others. # Chris Franz on Thursday, October 15, 1998 - 12:49 pm: Why didn't they tell the friendly aliens about their plan to collapse the vortex and have them destroy it once they get through it? It might have been a little safer. The space aliens may be unable to carry out the plan. In addition, telling them would increase the risk of the Malons finding out about it, and taking action to prevent the loss of such a readily accessible dumping area.. # Scott Neugroschl on Thursday, October 15, 1998 - 12:50 pm: Didn't anyone else have a problem with the end -- they're 200,000km from the edge of the void and they STILL can't see any stars? People, 200,000km is less than one light second, or almost half the distance to the moon. Give me a break. The edge of the void could refract light around the void. # inblackestnight on Friday, March 16, 2007 - 9:28 am: That Malon garbage man wasn't going to use SF's antimatter waste purification process because it would put him out of business, so it's safe to assume that currency still exists there. Did he not consider that he could be the one who proposes this technology to his people for a profit? Choosing between a garbage man and an inventor of highly useful technology to capitalize on should be an easy choice. dotter31 on Friday, March 16, 2007 - 12:25 pm:''Perhaps the Malon thought such a profit would be only a one-time thing, or also not as much money. ''inblackestnight on Friday, March 16, 2007 - 6:02 pm: Okay, how about only modifing the freighters that transport/dump the waste so they would still get paid but not have to travel all over the place to dump it? Sure the general society would eventually figure out what they're doing but if they keep the technology to themselves... Category:Episodes Category:Voyager